Why did Kate Winslet turn down a role in ‘Lord of The Rings’?
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings trilogy is now so deeply ingrained in popular culture that it’s practically impossible to imagine anyone other than Viggo Mortensen playing Aragorn or Ian McKellen portraying Gandalf. Of course, there was a time when Aragorn was being played by British actor Stuart Townsend, and Sean Connery was being considered for Gandalf. Even Kate Winslet was offered a role in the franchise, though she decided to turn it down.
Winslet and Jackson go way back. The director gave the actress her breakthrough role in 1994’s Heavenly Creatures, in which she portrayed one of the teenage girls involved in the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case. Jackson shot the film using the real-life murder site as a key location. The director’s commitment to telling the story as realistically as possible, coupled with Winslet’s in-depth character research – she prepared by reading the girls’ letters, diaries and trial transcripts – is believed to have left the actor emotionally drained and struggling to detach herself from the character.
The role earned Winslet significant critical acclaim and led to her being cast in Emma Thompson’s 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. Then came James Cameron’s dizzyingly successful Titanic. By the time Peter Jackson started work on Lord of The Rings, the young actress he’d worked with on Heavenly Creatures was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, having been nominated for Academy Awards in the ‘Best Leading Actress’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ categories. “There was a lot of stuff that was coming over,” she told Zoe Ball. “It was amazing really, and I just couldn’t believe that I was suddenly in this position where I had to choose what film I did. It’s rare for an actor to feel that, but certainly for a British actor.”
Suddenly Winslet had her pick of roles, and it would seem Jackson’s offer was just too much of a commitment. Actors were required to relocate to New Zealand for three years, and Winslet was newly-married, meaning she was probably trying to lay down some roots. When Jackson offered her the role of Eowyn, the sword-wielding daughter of King Théoden, she was forced to explain that she was already committed to other roles. In an e-mail allegedly written by Michael De Luca – the president of New Line Cinema – her agent wrote: “Winslet’s unavailable, I’m afraid. I think she passed on the project due to the length of time it takes.”
One wonders if it was more than just the time frame that made Winslet turn down the offer. The projects she took on instead, Quills, Iris, and Enigma were all very different and offered her the chance to showcase her dexterity as a performer. It’s easy to see why she might have felt reluctant to take up a role requiring her to wave a sword about. Equally, it seems rather strange that she would turn down the chance to play such a strong-willed and admirable female character given the defiant characters she was playing around that time. Still, it’s not like rejecting Jackson’s offer harmed her career in any way. Today, Winslet is one of Britain’s most revered talents and can lay claim to three BAFTAs, five Golden Globes and one Oscar.
